Rhythm Activity
Immerse your children in duple meter with this week’s rhythm narrative. Deliver the chant over and over like a favorite nursery rhyme, moving and chanting through repeated verses. Be expressive vocally. Check the audio demo for an example. [Piano recording is pitched to accurately represent note durations for teachers.] Some children may join you in movement and some in chant, while others just stare and take it all in. Engage participating parents or teacher aides in chant and movement, with or without babes in arms. [If you would like to include more difficult rhythm patterns in this activity, see the posting, Implementing Early Childhood Activities, Rhythm Activities.] (The digital prep that you hear on the demo will be addressed in full next week.)
Tonal Activity
The tonal narrative introduces Dorian tonality in the vocal range that most serves music learning. Engage children and participating adults in listening, movement, and singing through repeated verses, providing extended experience with Dorian tonality. Check the audio demo for an example (the digital prep will be addressed in full next week.) Explore flowing movement while singing. Some children may join you in movement, some in song, and some may just listen and stare, fully engrossed in the tonal narrative through repeated verses. [If you want greater variety and you have the skills to improvise in the tonality, see Implementing Early Childhood Activities, Tonal Activities.]
Song
“Everybody Follow Me” is a little “Play Song” just for fun. Play Songs are those used for everything but music learning—to get children/parents engaged in delightful music activity, to energize, to provide a break between the more musically intense Rhythm and Tonal Activities, to get a group working together, to charm, to work out the wiggles, to invite participation and establish comfort with movement. Play Songs capture the imagination, but not the musical imagination, as words are in charge. They engage parents and children in music so they can be transported to a higher level of musicality through other materials. Make this song your own. Use it in any way or in any key that serves your immediate needs, without regard for music learning. Enjoy!